


Deus ex Machina

by Winter_of_our_Discontent



Series: Mythology, Assemble! [2]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Greek Mythology - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-19
Updated: 2012-11-10
Packaged: 2017-11-14 15:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/516755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_of_our_Discontent/pseuds/Winter_of_our_Discontent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By the time Steve noticed something was definitely off about this particular rescue, the sea serpent was hitting on him. MCU!Avengers/Greek Mythology fusion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My second Avengers/Mythology crossover, this one is inspired by Perseus and Andromeda. Very, very loosely. It exists in a different universe than The Mind Has Mazes, though they share narrative DNA.  
> Since I’m setting it in an explicitly mythological Greek rather than historical Greek setting, historical accuracy was not a priority, honestly, considering I’m crossing it with Marvel it’s pretty much an impossibility, though I’ve tried to avoid anything distractingly anachronistic. Special thanks to my crack team of beta ninjas (analineblue, themegaloo, and lareinenoire) though any remaining mistakes are entirely my own.

The first sign that something was off was when he met the human sacrifice.

Though in retrospect, the flippant attitude of the king when he arrived should have been a clue. It had seemed straightforward enough at the time: sea monster attacking the coast of Aethiopia, about to be appeased with a virgin sacrifice. Save the girl, kill the monster… nothing he hadn’t done a time or two before.

He’d been furious to find out how long they’d waited to ask for him; the latest sacrifice had been tied to the rock only that morning, and it would be a struggle to make it in time.

It had bothered Steve at the time, a king should care about his people first, but there’d been a clear and present danger.

“The fate of one woman is unfortunate." King Justin had said, somewhat sanctimoniously. "But if this monster’s attacks continue my entire kingdom will suffer. My concern is for the greater good.”

So yes, he should have noticed something sooner, but instead his first inkling was finding the sacrifice so... unconcerned with the whole state of affairs. Usually they were screaming. Or at least worried. Perturbed, perhaps. “Here to rescue you, Miss.”

“Untying me would be lovely, thank you.”

Steve did as he was bid, freeing the redheaded woman from the boulder she’d been lashed to and very deliberately not looking at or touching any more of her body than was necessary.

“There are clothes hidden under that rock,” she said, indicating a direction with her head as she rubbed feeling back into her wrists and ankles. “Dammit, it must have shifted in the storm last week.”

So she’d had clothes hidden here for over a week, waiting for her to be unsuccessfully sacrificed to a sea serpent? Something was definitely up.

Steve could just see the edge of cloth peeking out from underneath a rock easily half the size of the one she’d been tied to. He braced himself as best he could in the sand and pushed with his shoulder, sending the stone rolling a few feet away. Steve grabbed the fabric bundle and turned to see the woman staring at him.

“That rock must have weighed a few hundred pounds.”

He tossed the bag to her, then politely turned so she could dress. “I’m stronger than I look, Miss.”

“You can quit facing away, I’m clothed now.”

Steve turned back to see her giving him a considering look. She seemed just as in control of the situation clothed as she had been while naked, but it was a great deal easier to talk to her when he didn’t have to worry about accidentally looking anywhere but her eyes.

“I’m Pepper. Thank you for untying me.”

“Happy to help, Miss Pepper. My name is Steve.” Her eyes widened slightly, clearly putting together his general appearance, the rescue, and the round shield strapped to his back. “Uhh, yes, _that_ Steve.” He always found it a bit embarrassing when people had heard of him.

“Wow, it’s… an honor, Steve, it really is. Something I’ll tell my children about. But you should probably be going now.” She turned away from him and began scanning the sea.

“With respect, miss, you should probably head back to the capital now, I’m sure they’ll all be happy you’re safe.”

“Oh, I’m sure Justin would be overjoyed to see me again, but no. I’m fine here, all untied, clothed, and safe, I’m sure you have other monsters to slay, people to rescue…” She actually made a shooing motion with her hands.

“There’s still a sea serpent out there killing people.”

“Of course. He didn’t send you to rescue me at all, did he.” It wasn’t a question. “He sent you to kill the sea serpent.”

“I’m not his servant, Miss, I go where I’m needed.”

It was then that the monster appeared.

Its body was a sinuous line of red and gold, gleaming in the sunlight. Because of the churning of the sea around it, it was impossible to gauge the creature’s full size, but the at least twenty feet of monster about the waves suggested a great deal more lurked below it. Plumes of smoke issued from the nostrils of a head that could have easily swallowed men whole, and its eyes glowed bluer than the sky.

Without thinking, Steve moved so that Pepper was behind him and his shield in front of them both, in case the creature breathed fire.

“Dammit, of all the times to be fashionably late…” Pepper yelled from behind his back. She gripped Steve’s arm hard enough that it would have hurt if he’d been a normal mortal. “Please, don’t try anything. He’s not going to hurt us.”

“With all due respect…”

“And Tony, don’t you _dare_ breathe fire, I’m know you like showing off but this is Not The Time.”

“Pepper…” the monster said. Its voice had a strange resonant quality, a cross between a cave echo and a metal horn.

“Don’t you ‘Pepper’ me, Tony,” she said, stepping out from behind Steve. “I have been chained to a rock _all morning_ I have been chained to a rock all morning _naked,_ which I suspect is somehow also your fault.”

Steve looked back and forth between them. She looked annoyed, standing with her legs spread slightly apart and her arms crossed, while the sea serpent seemed… Well, if a sea serpent could look contrite, then this one did.

“You two… know each other?” Pepper and the monster both turned their heads towards him, as though they’d only just remembered he was there.

“Well _hello_ there, tall, blond, and demi-godly,” the monster said.

“Unfortunately,” Pepper said, rolling her eyes. “This idiot is my employer. Tony, come out of there. I’m getting a crick in my neck having to look up to yell at you.”

The serpent slowly laid its head and neck on the beach. The head settled ten feet away, curled in slightly so that it was still facing them. The blue light in its eyes dimmed, then ceased entirely. With a loud whirring noise, the head split open along the jawline, opening like a snake distending its jaw prior to eating. Instead of swallowing, though, it revealed a man seated at its centre, surrounded by levers, gears, and various unrecognisable bits of machinery.

“That’s… something,” Steve said.

Pepper seemed unsurprised.

The man at the center grinned at Steve, clearly pleased to have impressed him. He was well-built, dark-haired and handsome with a neatly trimmed mustache and beard.

He stepped carefully out of the monster’s head and made his way over to them. “If I’d known it would take Justin that long to pick you, Pep, I’d have had the Oracle suggest redheads sooner.” He glanced over at Steve thoughtfully. “Then again, maybe blonds…”

“And the naked part?” Pepper asked.

Tony shrugged. It would have been a more convincing denial if his mouth hadn’t been turned just slightly up at one corner. “Can’t imagine where they could have gotten an idea like that.”

“I think I’m owed some explanation,” Steve said firmly, re-securing his shield to his back and crossing his arms across his chest. “For…” he paused as he tried to think of how to phrase it, then gave up. “Everything.”

“Poseidon’s fishy balls, Pythagoras could write theorems about that jawline,” the man said with a hint of awe.

“Tony, quit thinking with your phallus.”

“Tony of Athens,” he said, holding out a hand.

“King Anthony of the Royal House of Athens,” Pepper corrected.

“...and this would be my trusted assistant Pepper, _actual_ ruler of Athens.”

Steve looked at the outstretched hand, surprised. “You don’t expect me to kneel?” King Justin had, of course, not that Steve had complied. He knelt for gods, generally, but he’d never found a man he thought was worth kneeling to.

The king’s eyes roamed up and down his body and he could feel himself turning red under the frankly appreciative gaze. “Oh, I’ve no objection to that, but trust me, you’d be finding the sand unexpectedly for weeks. This one time, I...”

Steve interrupted him before he could go into any further details. “Hello, I’m Steve,” he said, grabbing King Anthony’s hand, pleased to discover the man had a firm and slightly callused grip. From operating the sea serpent, perhaps?

King Anthony’s body immediately went still, hand still clasped in Steve’s.

“Steve? Son of Zeus? Defeated the Red Skull? The Hydra? Protector of the downtrodden, etc etc… _That_ Steve?

“Uhh, yes?”

The king glanced over at Pepper, seeking confirmation.

Pepper shrugged. “I saw him lift a heavy boulder like it was nothing, and there have been rumors he’s back. And he does have the shield.”

King Anthony took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Okay, if you _are_ Steve, you knew my father, Howard. Tell me something no one else would know about him.”

As soon as he’d mentioned Howard, Steve could see the resemblance. It was less the physical appearance, though they shared dark, wavy hair and brown eyes, and more the sheer charisma. Men would follow Howard anywhere, and he had a feeling the same must be true for Anthony.

Besides, you could tell a lot about a ruler by the quality of their retainers, and anyone who could convince a woman like Pepper to follow him was likely to be a man worth following.

And Howard… It really had been a long time. He’d really and truly been gone long enough for those he’d known to have grown children, and if Anthony was king now, to have passed into the underworld as shades.

He was alone.

Some of what he was feeling must have shown in his face, because Anthony and Pepper were both looking at him with expressions of concern.

“Okay, no, I am _not_ going to be responsible for making a demigod cry. I do not want that on my record…” Anthony said, looking uncertain in a way that Steve might have found amusing under different circumstances.

“Sorry, it’s just… Howard, he… He was with me when Athena gave me this shield. I think he was jealous. He tried to… He tried to bargain with Athena. He was that kind of guy, the kind who’d try to charm a virgin goddess. The kind who could charm a virgin goddess. And he’s dead. Everyone I knew is dead now.”

“Yeah, he was… a guy…” Anthony said, his fingers drumming on the center of his chest for a moment as though to reassure himself. “Uhmm…” He leaned forward and put his hand on Steve’s shoulder tentatively. “Steve, can I call you Steve? You’re definitely Steve. Wow, those statues don’t do your arms justice. Remind me to have a word with the sculptors. Call me Tony. And I’d say it’s fine, but clearly it’s not fine, won’t bother lying. Seriously, the gods are assholes sometimes, no lie, but… uhm… There’s bound to be some good stuff now too, even if I could not quite currently name what it is, uhm… Less war now, or at least, that’s what I’m trying for, so that’s something, right? Hey, we’ve got indoor plumbing now, in Athens.”

Howard’s son was clearly insane, but there was something about the babble that was soothing. At least soothing enough for Steve to push the grief to the back of his mind for the time being. He took a deep breath. The motion caused Tony to pull back.

“I’ll make offerings for their shades later,” Steve said, voice unexpectedly firm. “Right now, I have a feeling I’m in the middle of something big.”

“Would you believe riding giant sea serpents is all the rage now?”

Steve crossed his arms and stared at Tony.

Tony shrugged. “Worth a shot. Okay, so… I’m guessing you’re not up on geopolitical events.”

“Tony…” Pepper said warningly.

“Oh come on, Pep, if we can’t trust _Steve_ who can we trust?”

Pepper glared at both of them but didn’t argue.

Steve’s stomach chose that moment to grumble embarrassingly loudly. Apparently he was still readjusting to needing to eat again.

“Whoo boy, you keeping a minotaur in there?” Tony clapped his hands together. “And what kind of a host am I… the kind that forgets to pack food in his sea serpent, that’s what kind. Let’s head back to Athens, I have everything there. Food, maps, feather mattresses, everything.”

“Will there be enough room in there for all of us?” Pepper asked.

“Well, I wasn’t planning on a threesome when I built it, but…” Tony looked at both of them, then the monster’s head, and Steve swore he could see the gears turning. “We’ll fit. I hope we’re all feeling friendly.”

They fit… just barely, but the tight space meant Steve’s right side spent the journey pressed against Tony’s left, while Pepper stood to Tony’s right.

“So where are the other sacrifices?” Steve said, raising his voice to be heard over the noise of the machinery.

“Took ‘em with me back to Athens,” Tony yelled back. “Offered them employment or a purse and a one way lift to wherever they wanted to go.”

“And none of them wanted to go back to Aethiopia?” He was pretty sure he believed Tony, but some independent confirmation wouldn’t go amiss.

“Amazingly enough, being offered as a sacrifice can really sour you on a place.“ Tony stared intently ahead. “I’ll introduce you to a couple of them, if you want, but I really need to concentrate for this bit, it’s a tight squeeze.” He pulled another lever and the lights, already dim, became even fainter, leaving their chamber lit only by a dim blue glow. The mechanical creature shuddered, and Steve was suddenly very aware that he was in a tiny metal container underneath the sea, completely dependent on the engineering and piloting skills of a relative stranger.

Steve’s breathing now seemed inappropriately loud even against the noisy audio backdrop of the cabin. He concentrated instead on Tony’s determined profile, outlined gently in azure.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve would have expected, had he thought about it, that the serpent would land much as he’d seen it do earlier on the beach. Instead, Tony saying “Might want to cover your ears,” was all the warning he got before a clanging noise reverberated through their vessel. 

As he took his hands from his ears he caught the tail end of Tony muttering something about meaning to fix that, then the entire thing jolted upwards. The jerking motions continued as the serpent was slowly lifted free of the water.

When the serpent’s head finally, finally reopened, Steve felt a bit like he was once again climbing out of Hades. He politely offered a hand to steady Miss Pepper as she gingerly stepped out onto the wooden platform. Her movements were steady, but her face looked slightly green, though that might have been a trick of the flickering lights.

The sea monster was now suspended from the ceiling of a cave, swaddled in a wooden cradle and a complicated looking arrangement of pulleys and ropes. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it until he recalled seeing Phoenician sailors putting ships into drydock for repairs.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she,” Tony said proudly, pressing his palm against the serpent’s head. The gesture was affectionate, but neither Steve nor Pepper missed the slight sway in Tony’s legs he’d tried to mask.

“Tony, I think it’s time we get you to bed.”

“Pepper…” Tony tried to argue, but the giant yawn he let out in the middle of saying her name stopped him. “Fine, like to see you try piloting…”

Pepper made eye contact with Steve, and in silent agreement they moved to either side of Tony, flanking him in unconscious imitation of their earlier positions during the journey. Each wrapped an arm around to steady him. They helped him down the platform’s stairs and down a corridor. Steve was grateful that Pepper seemed to know exactly where she was going, because he knew he’d have easily become lost by now, and Tony was in no shape to be much help. The king was still awake enough to keep moving, but his head was down and he was muttering to himself, with Steve’s enhanced hearing still unable to catch more than bits and phrases. 

“We’ll get him to his room and then I can direct you to the kitchens.” Pepper said. “I’m sorry I can’t stay with you longer, but the gods only know what sort of messes have happened while I was away.”

“I’ll be fine, miss...Pepper,” Steve corrected after a look from her. 

“You can have the room next to his, it should be unoccupied right now.”

“He’ll be fine?” Steve asked, as they eased Tony onto a sleeping couch in his ridiculously luxurious room.

Pepper looked at Tony, and, probably because he wasn’t able to see, allowed her expression to soften into one of affection and concern. “He’ll be fine. He’s probably been up for too long, and I haven’t been around to remind him to eat or sleep properly.”

“He does this a lot?”

She draped a linen sheet over the king with a practiced motion. “He’s determined to be a good ruler, and he drives no one harder than he drives himself.”

“He’s lucky to have someone like you supporting him.”

They stole quietly from the room, even if Steve doubted Tony would wake up for much less than another Titanomachy. Once they were clear of the chamber, Pepper turned and placed her palm flat against Steve’s chest.

“Look, Steve… Tony doesn’t trust easily, or lightly, and he has his reasons for that. Good reasons. But he’s decided to trust you. I like you, I think you’re a good man. So I will tell you now that if you abuse or betray that trust, demigod or not, you are going to _wish_ it was the Kindly Ones after you.” Pepper stared directly at him, and for just a moment Steve thought he caught a glimpse of something very old and very powerful behind her eyes.

She removed her hand from his chest, and smiled, and it was as if the previous moment hadn’t happened. “The kitchens are down those stairs and to the left. I’ll let the stewards know you’re to have anything you need. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Pepper hurried off down a different hallway than the one she’d pointed out to Steve. He stared after her for a moment, thoughtful, before heading in the direction of the kitchens.

***

A nervous young man appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. “Lord Steve? King Anthony is requesting your presence.” 

“Just Steve is fine.” Steve rose slowly from the seat he’d been occupying, feeling stuffed to the gills. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you all,” he said to the assembled kitchen staff, who duly waved him off with promises of more food upon his return.

He only had enough time to learn the servant’s name was Kyros, and that he was born in Athens and had an older brother who served as a priest at one of the temples to Zeus, before he was led to a small room beautifully decorated with frescos of hillsides and grottoes. Only the rich, Steve decided, would build palaces in cities and then spend a fortune decorating them to try and pretend they were actually outside in the country. 

Against such a backdrop Tony looked like a cult sculpture of Dionysus, sprawled on a couch dressed in robes of rich red edged in gold, drinking cup in hand. Steve could picture it, could imagine grape leaves twined into the dark waves of Tony’s hair. Could see Tony surrounded by worshippers and nymphs, skin glowing gold in the firelight of a midnight revel.

“Steve!” he said, gesturing to his left and somehow not spilling any wine in the process. “I’d like you to meet Rhodey, my oldest friend.”

Steve looked in the direction indicated, embarrassed to realize he’d been so busy looking at Tony he hadn’t noticed who else was in the room. A dark-skinned man in military dress sat to Tony’s left, while Pepper occupied the couch to the right. 

Even if the man hadn’t been wearing the insignia of a high ranking military officer, Steve would have known he was a soldier from the way he stood to greet him. “Rhodes, leader of Athens’ troops.” 

“A pleasure to meet you,” Steve said politely as they both took advantage of the handshake to surreptitiously take each other’s measure.

Tony waved at Steve’s guide and another servant who had been refilling Tony’s goblet. “You can go, we’ll call for you when we need you.” Steve was again amazed at his ability to somehow not spill any of his wine, no matter how close the liquid came to the rim. 

They bowed and left, shutting the door behind them.

As soon as they were gone, Tony quaffed the rest of his goblet and began pacing around the room in a loose figure eight, his steps wrapping around Steve on the lower loop. “So I was right?”

Pepper nodded. 

“Of course I was. He’s an idiot. Did he suspect?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Tony, we need to…” Rhodes unsuccessfully tried to interject.

Tony shook his head. “No, no, no fighting, no armies, especially not while he’s got my firepower. Too many deaths.” He paused in the middle of his pacing to put his hands on Steve’s shoulders, and Steve found himself being walked backwards a few steps and gently pushed down to sit on the couch Tony had previously occupied.

Tony continued as though he hadn’t done anything. “No, we need… _I_ need to get in there, destroy the information, and destroy the weapons. He’s not smart enough to recreate them without references, Justin needs a diagram and two servants to wipe his own ass.”

If Steve could feel dizzy, he’d have been feeling dizzy by now. His eyes were getting a workout just following Tony, who continued circling the room like a tiny one man chariot race. His mind, however, was doing its own laps. 

He crossed his arms and cleared his throat. “So this is about King Justin.”

Suddenly three pairs of eyes, two brown and one blue, turned to fix on him.

“Correction,” Tony said, “this is about _me._ Well, technically, my stuff. C’mon, Steve, you met him, did Justin strike you as anything more than a giant assclown wearing a frankly ridiculously phallic piece of jewelry?”

“It was a very pointy crown,” Steve admitted. 

“Aethiopia’s always been a backwater kingdom with delusions of grandeur, just like Justin’s always been a chicken convinced he’s an eagle. And yet suddenly he’s powerful enough to threaten Sparta, so strong they’re contemplating invading Corinth? I don’t know how, but he’s _stolen my weapons,_ and unless I stop him he’s going to try and conquer the known world.”

“And so you decided you’d… send your assistant in as a spy, then when you were worried she’d been discovered you built a giant mechanical sea serpent and bribed an Oracle so you could arrange to have her sacrificed to you?”

“More or less,” Tony shrugged. “I find the simplest plans are sometimes best.”

“You should hear the ones I’ve talked him out of,” Pepper added.

“I stand by my assertion that a horde of flying mechanical badgers would have been _amazing,_ ” Tony said.

“Even Justin would have noticed that.” Rhodes said dryly.

Tony wagged a finger at him. “I said amazing, not subtle.”

“Isn’t he worried you’re going to try and stop him?” Steve asked.

Tony snorted. “Of course he is, he’s a coward. But Justin thinks everyone is as craven as he is. He’ll expect me to send Athens’ troops against his, not risk my own neck. That’s why he’s planning to invade other countries first, to swell his ranks and resources before he has to fight us.”

“But you’re not planning to.”

Tony sighed and slumped down next to Steve on the couch. “If it comes down to it, Athens will fight Aethiopia. I would never surrender my people to him.” He made a quelling gesture at Rhodes, who looked ready to immediately summon his armies and march against someone. “I know, Rhodey, and it’s nothing to do with your fighting skills or that of the troops.” He turned to Steve. “I don’t doubt that we’ll win, too. We have better people and better supplies, we have Rhodey to lead them, fuck, we even have better looking uniforms. But a lot of people will die first. And I can stop them dying, and stop a lot more people from dying, if I can stop Justin.

“So I need to stop him, and I need to do it alone.”

Pepper and Rhodes immediately began registering their strident objections to this plan.

“Tony, you _can’t_ , you’re the _king_ , you can’t risk yourself…”

“Tony there is no way I am letting you go alone into something like that, I will send men, I will go myself…”

“Pepper, you need to make sure the country keeps running until I get back. Rhodey, I need you to keep the troops ready and protect the country against the invasion I _know_ Justin is already planning. You’re both the _only people_ I trust to take care of Athens, I need you to back me up here and _take care of Athens,_ I cannot do this without you two. I have to be the one to go, I’m the only one that knows exactly what to look for and how to stop it, and he’ll be expecting an army, not a lone man.”

“Well then,” Steve said equitably, “he won’t be expecting two men either.”

“Steve, you can’t come with me.”

“I’m not one of your subjects, you can’t order me to do anything.”

“I am not risking anyone else to fix _my mistakes._ ”

“With all due respect, I’ve been fighting tyrants since before you were born. It’s my risk to take.”

At some point during the argument they’d both risen to stand, facing each other. Steve stared down at the other man. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you won’t have a better chance of success if I come with you.”

Tony had dark brown eyes. As Steve watched, they changed from angry to something… else, something more open. Steve quit thinking about anything to do with weapons or Justin or things that weren’t Tony.

“Tony,” At the sound of Pepper’s voice, they finally broke eye contact. “You should let Steve go with you.”

“Yeah… yeah. Fine. I… have to go do work. Now,” Tony said, and then fled the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, much love to my betas and cheerleaders, and thank you to everyone who's left kudos or comments on the story so far. It's been tremendously encouraging!


	3. Chapter 3

Steve awoke with a start, freezing cold and tangled in a sweat-soaked blanket. He kicked it off, hearing the characteristic rip of tearing fabric as he did. Though the haze of dispersing nightmare, some corner of him noted that he’d probably just destroyed a sheet worth more than the room he’d grown up in. He’d offer to pay for it in the morning.

Steve stood and peeled off his chiton. He used some of the ruined fabric to wipe off his body, the sweat quickly growing clammy in the night’s chill. He found a jug of water next to the couch and drank half of it, dumping the rest over his head and then using more of the cloth to dry himself. There was a spare tunic draped over a small table. He pulled it on, noting that of course the fabric felt soft and expensive. Tony seemed to exist in luxury the way fish did in water: surrounded by it and just as oblivious to its presence.

He decided to go for a walk. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. 

Steve briefly considered looking for an oil lamp, then decided to just rely on his above average night vision to guide him. He exited his bedroom quietly, hoping not to wake Tony in the next room, if he hadn’t already been woken by Steve’s nightmares. He paused at the entryway, but heard no noises. 

The palace was still, even the servants resting from their labors. There was, however, a faint echoing noise and a distant light coming up a small stairwell across from their rooms. He probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all if he’d had a lamp.

Steve made his way down the stairs slowly, unsure of what to expect at the other end. As he moved down the steps, he could see the light was the flickering oranges and reds of a coal fire, and the noises the roar of the bellows and the clang of metal on metal. A forge, then? So close to the royal chambers? And active at this hour?

The man, facing away from Steve, wore only a linen tunic under his leather apron, the thin fabric plastered against his body. His well-muscled arms shone with sweat in the semi-darkness as he brought the hammer down, again and again, to give shape to something Steve couldn’t quite see.

If Tony had been Dionysius before, he was Hephaestus now, creating his marvels of metal and fire.

Steve blushed, and hoped the half-light would disguise his redness, or at least its cause. He was Zeus’ get, not Apollo’s, and it was ridiculous to find himself composing fanciful paeans in his head. 

He stood quietly, allowing the dry warmth of the forge to seep into him, melting away the last clinging shreds of nightmare. In spite of the roar of the furnace, the clang of Tony’s tools, and the slow beading of sweat along his flesh, it was oddly peaceful.

Then Tony turned, and saw him.

“Bwaah!” Tony exclaimed, dropping his hammer, which only narrowly avoided hitting his foot in favour of the ground before rolling a short distance away. “I didn’t… people don’t usually come down… the staff knows not to… not that you’re staff, but I didn’t expect… how long have you been here?”

“Not long,” Steve lied. In the interest of some honesty, he added, “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Ah,” Tony said, the word containing volumes. He wiped the back of his leather glove across his forehead, which only succeeded in smearing something black across his face. He leaned down and picked up the dropped hammer, carefully placing it in an empty hammer-shaped space on a tool covered shelf. He pulled off his gloves and untied his apron, dropping them all on a stone bench against the wall.

It was then that Steve noticed the odd blue glow coming from Tony’s... chest? 

“Hey, eyes up here, big guy,” Tony said, and Steve tore himself away from staring at the chest to meet Tony’s eyes.

“What is that?”

“Would you believe a new style in jewelry? All the rage among modern royalty. No? Man, there’s just no getting anything past you, is there?” Tony crossed his arms, obscuring some of the glow. Steve had to stop himself from craning his neck to try and get a better look around them.

“Does it hurt?” Steve asked.

“Bwuh?”

“That… in your chest,” Steve said, gesturing at the glowing blue circle. “Does it hurt?”

“The alternative was worse.”

“Wasn’t what I asked.”

“No, I guess not.” Tony’s mouth curved into a tiny smile. “You know, people usually want to know where I got it or how it works or how I’m still alive or if I’m still human or why it’s blue.”

“Still not answering,” Steve said, folding his arms across his chest.

“You sure you’re not actually the offspring of the god of stubbornness?” Tony said. Outside, thunder rumbled. It was probably a coincidence.

Tony was good, but Steve could outstare a gorgon. 

“Okay, okay… a bit. When I breathe.”

“So. Constantly.”

Tony turned and began pacing, keeping his back to Steve. “What do you want?” He pitched his voice slightly higher in a parody of his usual speaking tones and continued, “ ‘Why yes, Steve, as it happens, it hurts. All the damn time. And when it’s cold the metal carries the chill to my bones, and sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because I feel it pressing down on me and I can’t fucking _breathe_ , and I still have nightmares about it going in, and the only thing worse is the nightmares of it being pulled out and waking up to the feeling of choking to death on my own blood.’ “

Steve had forced his hands to his sides, clenching and unclenching his fists tightly enough to dig fingernail marks into his palms. He’d only just met the man, but he felt… he wanted to… Tony was _hurting_ , and Steve hurt with him.

Tony must have noticed his own breathing had become slightly ragged because with a conscious effort he slowed it down, taking deep and deliberate breaths. “I am the _king_ of Athens. I am _stronger_ than that.” 

Steve had never backed down from a challenge before. Before his mind had consciously decided to act, he’d closed the few steps between them and wrapped his arms around Tony, pulling him close.

“Hey, hey there, big guy…” Tony said, startled enough to revert to some of his usual insouciance. “King, remember?”

“Not one of your subjects,” Steve reminded him, the words muffled as his mouth pressed against Tony’s hair. “Was having a nightmare. Before I came in here.”

“Oh,” Tony said, and Steve could feel his body relax into the embrace. “Well, if it’s to help _you_ feel better… I mean, I’m known for being quite the gracious host… this _is_ helping you, right?”

“Yeah, Tony,” Steve said softly. “This is helping.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to my beta readers and to everyone who has taken the time to read, kudos, and, best of all, comment.


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